


Comforts of Home

by Sholio



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Food, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27023866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio
Summary: Tosh shares a treat with Ianto.
Relationships: Ianto Jones & Toshiko Sato
Comments: 22
Kudos: 34
Collections: Trick or Treat Exchange 2020





	Comforts of Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hotchocolatedictator](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotchocolatedictator/gifts).



The rain was coming down buckets, with that particular Cardiff bite to the air that promised snow but probably would never deliver on it. Tosh struggled with her umbrella at the tourist center entrance, got half soaked folding it up, and finally blew inside on a cold, damp draft.

"Still raining, is it?" Ianto said, looking up from the computer at the desk. It was still strange to her, having someone at the desk. Before Ianto, the office was closed nearly all the time.

"When is it not?" Tosh asked, and he smiled.

"We're the wettest city in the UK, you know. But not the most rainy days per year. Glasgow gets that."

He said it as if on autopilot, and then hesitated, a little. Ianto was a clever person who'd had a lifetime of people glaring at him for being clever; she knew the signs from her own experience.

"Never moving there, then," she said, and his smile rebounded a little. She squeezed out the ends of her hair and tried to tilt the umbrella so it wouldn't drip on anything made of paper. "Out of morbid curiosity, how many rainy days do we get?"

"Hundred and forty-nine, on average," Ianto said promptly. "Bit more this year, I expect."

"Aliens?"

"North Atlantic Current." He touched the button under the desk, opening the door for her. "There's coffee on your desk. Should still be hot. I'll be down shortly for the morning briefing."

Tosh hesitated at the entrance to the Hub, and then she turned around. She took a warm paper sack from under her coat, protected from the rain and the elements.

Ianto looked around, after a moment, realizing she hadn't left. "What's that?" he asked, as she unrolled the top of the sack.

"Anpan," Tosh said, a little bit shyly. "There's a bakery—you know, it's hard to get here in Cardiff. I got the last one this morning."

She opened up the sack and took out the paper-wrapped sweet red bean pastry inside. It was still warm to the touch. Tosh broke it in half. She'd meant to have it with her morning coffee, but now she found that she would rather share it.

"Here," she said, handing over half, with a napkin wrapped round it.

Ianto took it, a bit hesitantly. He took a cautious bite, and Tosh got the impression he was only humoring her, but then he looked a little surprised, and smiled.

"You like it?" she asked, and took a bite of hers. She had rarely eaten this as a child in Osaka, at least not that she remembered; it was mostly from London bakeries that she had good memories of it, from her teen and young adult years. Sinking her teeth into the chewy dough and sweet, slightly grainy filling made her think of quiet rainy days with a book and a pastry and no one bothering her.

But now she pulled the spare stool over to Ianto's desk.

"It's good," he said. "Do you—er—have any—"

Tosh handed him the spare napkin, and he tucked it into his shirt.

"What did you say it was called?"

"Anpan. Bread with sweet red bean filling."

"And you bought it on your way here?"

Tosh smiled; she could almost see the gears turning, as if he was adding items to a mental spreadsheet.

"There's a bakery down the street. They sell out quickly. It's a French bakery, for the most part, but the people who run it are British-Japanese and you can get these and a few other kinds of things if you come in early. I can give you the address of the place."

She leaned over to write it on the edge of a tourist brochure.

"Thank you," Ianto said. "I could start bringing in a few of those, perhaps, with the morning coffee."

Tosh smiled. It was .... strange, being the one who had been here longer. The one who knew the office culture and was invited out for drinks—and now, had the opportunity to invite someone else into that circle. It was a warm, lightheaded feeling, and it occurred to her that she really liked it, and she wanted to get to know their new office boy a little better. 

"Please," she said, and he grinned at her—a real grin, not his polite smile, but something happy and warm, and a little surprised. Inviting her in.


End file.
